Prep volleyball | Southeast High sweeps Lakewood, advances to district semis

BRADENTON -- Luckily for the Southeast volleyball team, it doesn't matter how you start, but instead it's how you finish a district tournament match.

Despite falling behind 7-0 early in the first set Tuesday night to St. Pete Lakewood, the Seminoles shook off the jitters and collected their poise, sweeping the Spartans 25-19, 25-10, 25-16 and advancing them to the Class 5A-District 11 semifinals Wednesday night against Dunedin high.

"We are a very young team," first-year Seminole coach Denise Schultz said. "I've only got three players from last years squad so they tend to get off to slow starts. Our confidence really hit new heights after our win against Saint Stephens the other night. We learned to not lose our confidence and that helped us tonight."

Marline Valcin lead Southeast with 13 kills on the night, igniting her team with above the net play and hustle.

"I just wanted to do what I had to for us to win," Valcin said. "Coach told us to calm down and play our game when we started slow. We know how they play so it was easy for us to get settled and get into a grove."

The Seminoles defeated Lakewood earlier in the season, which helped provide the blueprint to defeat them again.

"We didn't click tonight as a team, we just couldn't get it going," Spartans head coach Billie Martin said. "We've played well all season, but tonight it just didn't seem like we had our heads in it."

Martin also found herself with similar struggles in her first year as Spartans head coach.

"Communication has been our biggest challenge this year," Martin said. "The toughest part has been getting them to understand the game mentally not just physically."

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 12:32 AM with the headline "Prep volleyball | Southeast High sweeps Lakewood, advances to district semis ."